PRACTICAL BEEKEEPING
PRACTICAL BEEKEEPING
BARK
HIVES
Jairus K Musachi, Chilanga, Zambia am pleased to write to you about beekeeping activities in this far corner of our world, after being inspired by you and your continued support. BfD Journal is very helpful and educative as it highlights many issues on bees and beekeeping practice. /
Beekeeping has a long and old record in Zambian culture and there are few Zambians who do not understand about bees being helpful to mankind. Most of the beekeeping methods used are local-style, and most commonly used is the bark hive.
Bark hive preparation A tree is chosen with the desirable diameter and is then utilised to its fullest to avoid deforestation. One fully grown tree can produce about
10 hives each measuring up to 1.2 m in length. This measurement is used to allow the beekeeper easy access to the combs from both ends. The tree is normally cut down to get some wood to use as covers to the hive ends.
The hives are left at the same site for 14-21 days to allow thera to lose some moisture Thereafter. they become much lighier to be transported fo the site where they can be hung in trees
A fully grown iree can produce 10 bark hives
When the
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Aung high in the tree to secure it from attack
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DEVELOPMENT OF BEEKEEPING IN LAOS Bounpheng Sengngam, National University of Laos and Jerome Vandame, Comité de Coopération avec le Laos, France
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The development of beekeeping in Laos faces an important strategic choice: the introduction of the mellifera? the slow exotic species Apis Or of with indigenous species development local beekeeping Apis cerana and Trigona laeviceps? Laos adopts beekeeping activities with ‘modern’ technology and the introduction of Apis mellifera (in the image of what has been done in
On the other hand, should Laos concentrate on the development of beekeeping based on the indigenous species, Apis cerana and Trigona
laeviceps, this would give the Lao farmers the possibility to diversify their activities and to strengthen their farming systems. This policy would require strong support regarding the extension of beekeeping practices suitable for the resources of each province, and research to improve the local bees to permit efficient beekeeping using selected
lf
varieties, with low absconding and swarming.
Thailand and other neighbouring countries) the beekeepers will have to bear numerous risks. These include economical risks linked to
This policy would permit the Laotian Provinces to highlight their comparative advantage, whether it is the importance of the primary forest, or the richness of the melliferous flora and fauna, and to take
significant investment costs; pathological risks due to the high sensitivity of Apis mellifera to pests and bacteria; genetic risks engendered by the introduction of new genetic material: and marketing risks resulting in the necessity to feed colonies with large quantities of sugar that has a fluctuating market price. In addition these specialised beekeepers would have to face the highly competitive beekeeping systems of neighbouring countries. These new actors would be economically weak.
advantage of interesting marketing niches both inside the country with forest honey, medicinal honey and Phongsaly honey, and outside the country with organic honey with ‘Protected Geographical Indication’. The full text of this interesting publication about beekeeping in Laos can be downloaded from the Bees for Development website Information
Centre at www.beesfordevelopment.org.
